The Man in The High Castle Story
As I stated before in other posts, nothing has shook this planet, nothing has caused so much death, and nothing has shaped our modern society like World War 2, the war has determined who would control most of the world's resources and material assets as well as the world's centralized economy. Of course, like in this page (Click here) which tells a bit of a science fiction version of a world where the Axis won the war. In 1962, famous science fiction author Philip K. Dick ''(who also wrote other stories such as ''Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report) wrote his very own version of an Axis victory: The Man in The High Castle, and even had an interesting back story. So, what happens in Philip K. Dick's novel, and what kind of world has the Axis built after their victory in the war, and how the conquered people do and cope with this? This is what this page will try to cover. The Back Story The story begins with a disgruntled Italian Immigrant during the Great Depression named Giuseppe Zangara. Like in our reality, Zangara was in Miami, Florida as soon to be President Franklin D. Roosevelt was giving a speech at night. I our reality, Zangara was caught and sent to jail before he could even get close enough to assassinate Roosevelt. In TMITHC, Zangara is successful in assassinating Roosevelt. Roosevelt's Vice-President, John Nancy Garner is sworn in as the President and the nation was in shock. The USA under the Garner Administration sees the continuation of the Great Depression, and thus the USA never recovers from it. Like in our reality, World War 2 begins when Nazi Germany invades Poland, but are stopped by the USSR, and that is when the Nazis attack France. With a prolonged Great Depression and the USA voting for Presidents who oppose World War 2, the USA primarily stays out of the War, it never imposes an Oil Embargo on Japan, and with it Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor. Because the USA has been removed as a potential factor in the war, Europe and the USSR would eventually be defeated by the Nazis and the Italians in a few short years, and even taking North Africa in the process. For the same reason, the Japanese Empire goes unchecked all over Asia. They cement their places in China (including Manchuria) and they even conquer other places in Southeast Asia and even moved into India, they even took the South Pacific until they also have conquered Australia, so the extreme eastern Hemisphere was now under Japanese control. But the Axis Powers were not done, after the Nazis and the Japanese were done conquering their continents, they spend the next few years on how to conquer the last nation that could oppose them: The United States. Isolated and pretty much stayed out of the war, it is unprepared and too weak to fight against the powerful Axis. But the Axis invades in 1947 and after a short period of time, the USA Surrenders. The Main Story This page will now go to the Main Story. The year is 1962 (the same year the book was published), and the USA is now occupied by both Axis Powers. Nazi Germany controls the Eastern Half of the nation where Japan controls the Pacific Coast. But how did these Axis Powers do Post-War? Nazi Germany The Nazis in TMITHC are far and away the most technological Axis Power as they have the latest in war technology, so they created and even tested the Atomic Bomb. Because the Germans were advanced in Rocket Technology in our reality, they also have created rockets and other engines that allow them to create planes which can go from one part of the world to the other within hours. The Nazis are also the leader in Space exploration. Not only did they land and even colonized on The Moon, They also managed to venture to other Planets in our Solar System such as Venus and Mars. The Nazis also found a way to drain the Mediterranean Sea, basically turning it into Farmland to feed a growing Nazi and Italian population. Now, Adolf Hitler is still alive in TMITHC, but barely. He is suffering from Syphilis and other illnesses, and is considered unfit to perform his duties as Chancellor. So, the Nazi party is now talking about a successor, many believe that it would be General Martin Bormann (who fought in the war but committed suicide in our reality) to be Hitler's successor. But he too soon fell ill. Japan Japan still does their own version of the Way of the Samurai (which the Japanese Empire sabotaged during the war in our reality). The main circulum of reading in the Japanese States is an old Chinese Military Scroll known as the I Ching (or Yijing) in which a lot of the Japanese Occupying committee and even some Americans living in the Japanese States read. In the rest of the story, a man named Robert Childan who owns a special kind of American Antiquity Store in San Francsco in Japanese occupied California where the Japanese constantly buy these Antiquities, one day he gets contact from the head of the Japanese Occupation Committee Nobusuke Tagomi ''telling him about a Swedish Industrialist named Baynes. Childan than steals some of Frink's real metal to seel in his Antique shop to try to appease a Japanese Client he has, and to make him think that Frink's new Jewellery Shop is "spiritually alive" The story also follows a man named ''Frank Frink who was a WW2 Veteran who was let go of his job at the Wyndam-Matson Factory in New York (occupied by the Nazis), he agrees to help another worker who was also let go from his job to form a Jewlery Business, though he keep this a secret, but he is of the Jewish Faith. He also discovers that the Wyndam-Matson Factory Company is supplying Childan's Antique shop with Antiques that are counterfeit who Childan blackmails to help Frink's new Jewelery Business There is also a woman named Juliana Crain (who was once married to Frank) who live in the Border State of Colorado and is a Judo Master and teaches her skills to her students. She finds another man named Joe Cinnadella. Both Juliana and Joe go on a road trip to Denver (one of the "unaltered" American Towns), but as they got there Joe leaves Juliana to find a man named Hawthorne Abendsen (The Man in The High Castle) who wrote his own alternate history story called "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" (more on that later) a book which is considered illegal to the Nazi State Laws. When Juliana finds out that Joe was missing, she follows him to Wyoming, there Joe reveals that he is a Nazi Spy sent to assassinate Abendsen, she kills him and warns Abendsen of what could happen to him. Meanwhile, the Nazi Party has selected it's new Chancellor: Joe Gobells. Who in secret is planning to destroy the Japanese. Tagomi finally meets Baynes as well as another contact of theirs, but were confronted by Nazi Secret Police who are going to arrest Baynes, but they escaped. Baynes revealed that he was in fact Rudolf Wegener. He warns then that Gobells intands to attack Japan, this is where they meet Frink as the Nazis now know of his religion and was arrested soon thereafter, Tagomi then kills 2 SD soldiers in self defense but as when he was to bring the gun back to Childan, he decides to buy it instead. He then orders the release of Frink Then, some characters have strange visions. Visions of a completely different world from what is known to them. Tagomi has visions of a different San Francisco. Juliana also has visions of Abendsen living in a normal house and with a family. Juliana then meets Abendsen who she asks to about what inspired him to write his book. After ignoring this question, Abendsen eventually answers that it was the I Ching that inspired him to write his book, leaving Juliana finding out that the Truth itself wrote the book to find the "Inner Truth" and wonders if the Axis really did win the war or did they in fact lost. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy This is a book written by the fictional character Hawthrone Abendsen. It is an alternate scenario within an alternate scenario. Most of the characters in TMITHC have read the book (despite it being illegal in Nazi Germany) as it tells of a very different Allied Victory in World War 2. So, how does this alternate Allied Victory play out? Well, in TGHLH Giuseppe Zagara fails in his attempt to assassinate FDR (like in our reality), but unlike in our reality FDR steps down from the Presidency in 1940 (already serving 2 terms in office). The People of the USA vote for ''Rexford Tugwell ''(who in our reality was one of the first territorial Governors of Puerto Rico). Like in our reality, Tugwell Embargoed the Japanese. But fearing an attack from Japan. Tugwell orders the Pacific Fleet to Abandon Pearl Harbor for the sake of preserving the Naval Power the US had. World War 2 goes on like this. In 1942, after the British defeated the Nazis in North Africa they head to the Caucasus to aid the Soviets in their fight against the Nazis during the Battle of Stalingrad and the fight would end as the Allies win, and the US defeats Japan in the Pacific (though whether or not the Atomic Bomb is used is unclear). Unlike in our reality, Hitler and the surviving Nazi party were captured and tried for their war crimes and were sent to jail. Now what happens? Well, eventhough the USSR did defeat the Nazis (albeit with help from the British) they couldn't sustain the losses from the war, and in a few short years after the war, the USSR keels over and dies. What about the USA and Britain? Britain remained a huge industrial power during the war in this story and was also able to keep it's colonies (something they had to give up in our reality). The USA agreed to help the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War and with it the Chinese Nationalists were able to defeat Mao Tse Tung and his band of Communists (effectively ending communism as a legitimate ideaology). But as time went on, Britain became more and more racist and wasn't in favor of people of a different skin color and more aggressive in gaining more territory. The USA goes in the other direction, they effectively end racism by making the Jim Crow Laws in the southern states illegal, thus ending racism sometime in the 1950's. This would develop a rift between the once great Allies and a Cold War begins. In TGHLH however, it is over political ideaology (asthe Cold War was in our reality) but instead of it being about making bigger, better weapons it is instead about the views on epople of different skin color and other cultures which Britain is beginning to be more intolerant while the USA is beginning to embrace different poeple and cultures. According to some people who read the book from cover to cover, Britain ends up in the winning side of this Alternate Cold War and becoming the world's leading superpower. Well, that is all I have for this page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well if you like them. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.